Working up literally to the last minute, I managed to finish and deliver the other three knives that my boss ordered to give as Christmas presents before I had to travel for my own Christmas holidays. The design is again per his suggestion, with my refinement. The blades are forged from automobile coil spring, stock removed using primarily a $100 Sears 2"x42" belt grinder, quenched in veggie oil, temper drawn in a kitchen oven. The handles are desert ironwood with copper bolsters and black spacers. I know the proportions of handle and blade are a bit odd, but they fit very nicely in a large hand like mine. My boss said that one of the people he gave my knives to has already used it to skin a deer and declared it the best knife he has used, which makes me pleased and proud and humble all at the same time.

The background is a wooden crate that I rescued from next to the dupster at a Japanese auto repair shop. I mounted a vise in one corner and it serves as a workbench in my little efficiency apartment. The work I do on it is a bit limited due to dust and neighbors, but it has made my life much easier.

This little sucker is my first completely stock removal project. It is a little two-fingered knife made from a piece of plow disk. Obviously I heated it to flatten out the arch, but I'm not counting that as forging! :rolleyes:

I made a pattern on a piece of paper and cut it out, then laid it over the plow disk and traced it with a Sharpie. I used a $7.00 Harbor Freight air cutoff wheel to cut out the profile and then cleaned the curves on my $100 Sears belt grinder, which I also used for the bevel. I heated in my coffee can gas forge, quenched in veggie oil, and drew temper in my kitchen oven.

I was originally going to put slab handles on it, but decided to go for a minimalist approach and just soften the edges with a cord wrap. I mixed up a little epoxy and dabbed it carefully on. The cord acted like a candle wick and sucked it up inside itself. The lanyard works well for stabilizing it in your hand if you twist the slack out of it, and also works well to let the knife dangle while you use two hands to work, then flip the knife back into your grip.

And it is shaving sharp, as the bare patch on my otherwise far-from-bare leg can attest!

Actually, I have to say, Storm Crow, your knives are pretty sexy. Make me wish I had the tools and the skills to make them myself. And Clint, when you get that tracker knife worked out, I hope you'll share some photos with the rest of us.

I need more badass things to make. Right now I knit and whittle things. Cannot compare to you knifemaking guys

We need wilderness whether or not we ever set foot in it. We need a refuge even though we may not ever need to go there.

Clint, you'll have to show us what you end up with. What kind of grinder did you get?

Fop, no one (until my current (and from here on out) girlfriend) called anything about me or mine sexy until I made this little sharp-nosed mouse. And now two people on different forums have chosen that word to describe it. I obviously need to make some more sharp-nosed mice and glue them all over my body!